


Shivers on green water

by redjacket



Category: Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 21:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12350775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redjacket/pseuds/redjacket
Summary: Steve Trevor goes to (maybe) Hell.





	Shivers on green water

Steve gasped and gagged as he was dragged from the river by an unyielding hand. He twisted, confused, trying to get away, but it was no use. He was hauled up the bank and dumped unceremoniously on the shore, left to shiver as he coughed the frigid water from his lungs.

Funny, he hadn’t remembered being cold, hadn’t remembered…

Steve shook his head to clear it. He was very aware of the presence next to him, waiting. The wasn’t a sense of urgency, not really, just…exasperation.

Whoever it was did not like waiting for others.

Steve tried to get his wits about him as he sputtered and coughed. There had been a plane and…and the gas. And Diana…Diana was going to save the world and he had to…

“You succeeded, for what it’s worth,” the man who had taken him from the river said. “And you did not believe in your gods enough for them to take you. Your…connection to Diana brought you to me instead.”

Steve forced himself over and propped himself up on his elbows to look at the man. He was tall, very tall. His hair was thick and long and completely white and his skin was almost grey, like a shadow.

“You have been in the river long enough,” the man said.

Steve stared. “How long?”

The man’s mouth twisted unpleasantly. Steve got the feeling most people would have been intimidated by that.

“Time moves differently here,” the man said. “As your people would reckon, perhaps 30 years.”

Steve’s mouth fell open. He could not think of a thing to say.

Thirty years was unthinkable.

_Oh, Diana._

The man’s face twisted into even more of a grimace and he drew himself up. If Steve didn’t know better, he would have thought he looked defensive.

“You should never have come to me,” the man said.  “And I am not what I used to be.”

“Sorry?” Steve managed, squinting up at him.

The man looked flummoxed for a moment. Then, he laughed, a hoarse, unused sound.

Steve pulled himself to his knees while the man was still laughing. He would have taken another moment to get his bearing there but he was suddenly being offered a hand. It did not look…quite substantial but Steve knew instinctively that it would be a great insult if he did not accept it.

He was on his feet in a blink and, more than that, dry when he had been sopping wet the moment before.

“Yes, she would have liked you, I think,” the man said, his gaze calculating and judgemental but…something else, too. Something…softer, maybe melancholy. Steve could not quite tell.

The man gripped Steve’s hand tightly for another moment. Then he turned and started to walk away. Steve stared after him.

“Come on!” the man called sharply. “It’s past time to get you moving. You never should have been mine in the first place.”

“Moving where?” Steve asked.

The man stopped and looked at him like he was a dullard. “You have upset the balance here long enough, Steven Trevor. You were not meant for the Styx. I am not sure where you were meant for, exactly, but it is not there. For now, you will come with me.”

Steve didn’t understand, not entirely. There were things that he did not know and he didn’t know if it was better to ask or play along.

He fell into step beside the man. It was not, Steve thought, entirely of his own violation. There was something literally compelling about him.

Steve sighed. His mother had always told him he didn’t have a lick of good sense.

“Who are you?” Steve asked. “Where are we going?”

The man chuckled. His showed too many teeth when he smiled. But Steve thought it was not…unfriendly or threatening. Not exactly. Maybe the best word for it was…awkward.

“I am Hades,” he said. “God of the Underworld. I am going home. You, on the other hand…”

He looked at Steve again. This time there was pure calculation in his gaze. “We still have to figure out where you belong.”

**Author's Note:**

> For the [Wondertrevnet drabble-a-thon](https://wondertrevnet.tumblr.com/). The prompt was Out of Time and spawned a plot bunny. No idea where it's going.


End file.
